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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Mustangs are the AR15s of the automotive world. There are so many customizable options. From performance parts, to dress up parts, you name it, someone has made an aftermarket version of it.

Readers may know that I have a 2005 V6 Mustang. It’s my daily driver, and I’ve had it since 2009. Yes, it’s only a V6, but I still love it, and have done many things to make it mine. One of them was an arm rest cover from American Muscle. They offer a few different versions. I opted for the running pony one.

Installation was pretty straight forward. You have to remove the arm rest/top of the center console, fold the cover over it, and use a staple gun to get it into place. The first issue I had was with fitment. The rounded corners at the front seemed too thick, and it started to pull and separate the cushion of the arm rest from the plastic. No big deal. It wasn’t bad enough for me to care.

Once I got it on, it looked fantastic! It really dressed up the car, and I was super happy. That was in 2012.

As time went on the, the stitching started to get dirty. You expect that. What I didn’t expect was for it to start vanishing. Not pulling, but parts of it would simply disappear. Then the leather started to crack and peel. That caused it to poke into my arm. Now, five years and 46,457 miles later, it looks like absolute garbage.

I also can’t just take it off, because remember that pulling I mentioned? That won’t settle back down, so I’m kind of stuck with it.

At this point, as I mentioned, it has been on my daily driver for five years 46,457 miles, and sat in storage at one point for six months straight when I put my car in a garage while I left for a long term contract. It did start to fail after a year or so and got progressively worse.

I attempted to bring this to American Muscle’s attention, but I was ignored. That is highly surprising as they have fantastic customer service. I hate to talk bad about products, especially when they are from companies that I like, but I figured that I would warn anyone interested in this product that it won’t last.

I put about 75 miles on my car per day, it stays outside in the Florida sun, and I open and close the console a lot. However, I would have expected this to hold up a little better, especially considering it started to show signs pretty early. Oh well. I guess you get what you pay for!

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